Process and a machine for treating the outside surfaces of hat felts



Aug. 2, 1955 J. SCHWEIG 2,714,477

PROCESS AND A MACHINE R TREATING THE OUTSIDE SURFACES HAT FELTS I Filed July 6, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l Aug. 2, 1955 J. SCHWEIG 2,714,477

PROCESS AND A MACHINE FOR TREATING THE OUTSIDE SURFACES OF HAT FELTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 6, 1953 074 o uss ScIIWE/G Unite tates PROCESS AND A MACHINE FOR TREATING THE GUTSl'DE SURFACES 0F HAT FELTS Jacques Schweig, Basel, Switzerland Application July 6, 1953, Serial No. 366,269 17 Claims. (Cl. 223-418) felt to produce a velours surface thereon. This roughening is effected by means of a high-speed grinding wheel, the periphery of which is covered with shark shin. The hat felt to be machined is passed on a freely projecting arm of a footwlever, which arm extends in parallelism with the of the grinding wheel. This afoot lever has at its end a pressing roller situated opposite to the grin iing wheel. The hat felt is supported by this pressing roller and the foot lever is then operated to move the hat felt against the grinding Wheel and to reciprocate the hat felt while gradually turning it about its and maintaining the hat felt in contact with the grinding wheel. it is apparent that great skill is required to achieve in this manner an even roughening of the outside surface of the felt. Even with thegreatest skill, however, the undesired formation of streaks on the hat felt is almost inevitable.

For this reason it is an object of the present invention to provide a process and machine for machining the out- :side surface of hat felts, with which process and machine the aforementioned disadvantages, which had to be :put up with so far in giving hat felts .a velours surface, are eliminated.

I t is a feature of the invention to provide in a machine for treating the outside surface of a hat felt mounte. on a rotatable conical hat block having a rounded top portion, the combination of a longitudinal carriage, means for reciprocating said longitudinal carriage and comprising a reversible motor, a grinding unit mounted on said longitudinal carriage and comprising a grinding wheel and a motor operatively connected to said grinding wheel for rotating the same, and guide means providing a guideway for and engaged by said longitudinal carriage, said guideway being parallel to the adjacent horizontal contour of said hat block, whereby said grinding wheel is adapted automatically to roughen evenly .a hat felt mounted on said hat block when said grinding wheel and said hat block are rotated and said longitudinal carriage is reciprocated along said guideway.

ltis a further feature of the invention to provide in a machine for treating the surface of a rotatable body of rotation having an end portion rounded in the shape of a spherical segment the combination of a longitudinal carriage, means for reciprocating said longitudinal carriage and comprising a reversible motor, a grinding unit mounted on said longitudinal carriage and comprising a grinding wheel and a motor operatively connected to said grinding Wheel for rotating the same, guide means providing a guideway for and engaged by said longitudinal carriage, said guideway being parallel to the adjacent horizontal contour of said body, and means pivotally mounting said longitudinal carriage on a vertical axis extending through the center of curvature of said end porl Patented Au I) rang tion when said grinding wheel contacts said body of rotation at the base of said end portion.

Suitably the guideway has a straight portion and means are provided for relatively adjustably mounting said guide means and said body of rotation in respect of the le between the axis of said body of rotation and the Sn portion of said guideway.

it is also a feature of the invention to provide a process for treating the surface of a body of rotation the contour of which has a straight side portion and an arcuate end portion, which comprises contacting the outside surface of said body of rotation with a grinding wheel and rotating said body of rotation and said grinding wheel, and at the same time moving said grinding wheel along a rigid guideway parallel to said straight side portion of the adjacent horizontal contour of said body to the base of said end portion, thereafter pivot-ally moving said grinding wheel about a vertical axis extending through the center of curvature of said end portion, and returning said grinding wheel along the same path.

Additional features and objects of the invention will be apparent from the following description given with reference to the accompanying drawings, which show two illustrative embodiments of machines according to the invention and in which Fig. 1 is a top plan View of the first embodiment, and

Fig. 2 a cross-sectional view thereof.

Figs. 3 and 4 are top plan views showing the second embodiment in two different positions, and

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on section shown in Fig. 3.

The machine shown in Figs. 1 and 2 has two mutually independent sections I and II, which are symmetrically mountd on a common oblong machine frame. Both sections 1 and H are of the same construction. Each section has an electric drive motor 11 mounted on the table top of the machine frame 10. This motor has a prolonged, freely projecting motor shaft 12, which has mounted on it a conical hat block 13 serving to receive the hat felt and having its top portion rounded in the shape of a spherical segment. As may be seen from Fig. l the motor axis extends at an acute angle relative to the longitudinal axis of the table top. This angle may be varied by sliding the motor ll along an arcuate guide slot 14 provided in the tabe top. The table top has an aperture 15 for each set. In this aperture a longitudinal carriage i6 is movable, which is guided on two guide rods, comprising an outer guide rod 17 the shape of which corresponds to the contour of bat block 13, and an inner guide rod 18 extending along the longitudinal axis of the table top. This longitudinal carriage 16 carries an adjusatble transverse carriage 19, which has mounted on it an electric drive motor 20. The shaft of this motor, extending parallel to the longitudinal axis of the table top, has mounted on its one end a grinding wheel 21 Whose periphery is covered with a strip of fish skin. Moreover, the longitudinal carriage 16 carries below its guide rod 17 a vertical reversible electric motor 22, the shaft of which carries at its upper end a pinion 23 in mesh with a rack 24 extending along the guide rod 17. The inner guide rod 18 carries a sleevelike sliding piece 25, to which the longitudinal carriage 16 is pivotally connected. At its end corresponding to the top of the hat block this rod is mounted in a carrying piece 26, which is fixed to a stationary part of the machine and at the same time forms a stop member delimiting the movement of the longitudinal carriage 16 along a straight-line path. From this point the longitudinal carriage describes an arcuate path about the axis of its pivotal connection with sliding piece 25. The whole arrangement is such as to enable the movement of carriage 16 on a path parallel to the adjacent horizontal contour of the hat block.

the line of To use the machine a hat felt is mounted on the hat block 13 of each of the two sets. The motor 11 is fixed in a position in which the straight portion of the contour of the hat block 13 is parallel with the longitudinal axis of the machine table. The transverse carriage 19 is adjusted so that the rotating grinding wheel 21 contacts the outside surface of the mounted hat felt and is capable of roughening the same to the desired degree. The reversible motor 22, which has coordinated therewith end change-over switches not shown here, will recipro' cate said longitudinal carriage as indicated by arrows in Fig. 1 so that the outside surface of the hat felt is evenly roughened all over.

The hat block 13 being removably mounted on the motor shaft 12, it may be replaced readily by a block of different taper, depending on the shape of the hat felt to be roughened.

The machine according to Figs. 3 and 4, as contrasted with that of Figs. 1 and 2, has only one hat block 30,

which is driven by drive motor 31 through a stepless gearing 32. In this case the hat block and motor are floatingly mounted coaxially on opposite sides of the gearbox. The axis of said two parts extends in the longitudinal direction of the oblong machine frame 33 carrying them. That machine frame has also arranged thereon an auxiliary table 34 pivotally movable on a vertical axis. That auxiliary table has a dovetail groove 34a, in which a longitudinal carriage 35 is guided. A turntable 36 (Fig. 5) is mounted in machine frame 33 concentrically with the pivotal axis of auxiliary table 34. Turntable 36 has a second guide groove 36a corresponding in shape to and alignable with the first guide groove 34a. The common pivotal axis of the auxiliary table 34 and of the turntable 36 passes through the center of curvature of the hat block top of spherical segment shape. longitudinal carriage 35 mounts a manually adjustable transverse carriage 37, which on one longitudinal side thereof carries a grinding wheel 38 provided with a strip of fish skin on its periphery, whereas on the other longitudinal side the transverse carriage carries an electric drive motor 39 for that grinding wheel. A second, reversibleelectric motor 40 is mounted on longitudinal carriage 35 and serves for driving a pinion 42, in mesh with a rack 41 provided at the outer longitudinal side of auxiliary table 34. That rack is composed by a straight section 41a and an arcuate section 41b concentric with the pivotal axis of auxiliary table 34. Hence the course of the rack corresponds to the contour of hat block 30.

The operation of this machine is as follows:

Suitably the angular position of auxiliary table 34 is first adjusted to have the grinding wheel 38 move parallel to the contour of hat block 3t) when the longitudinal carriage 35 is reciprocated in guide groove 34a of auxiliary table 34. In that position the auxiliary table 34 is secured with means not shown here. Then the turntable 36 is adjusted for accurate alignment of its guide groove 36a with guide groove 34a of auxiliary table 34. After mounting the hat felt to be treated on hat block 30, the grinding wheel 38 is set by adjusting the transverse carriage 37. Now motors 31, 39 and 40 are started, with the result that while the hat felt and grinding wheel rotate the longitudinal carriage 35 is moved from its position shown in Fig. 3 first along guide groove 34a towards the turntable 36. The part of longitudinal carriage 35 in sliding engagement with guide groove 34a then engages the guide groove 36a of turntable 36. In the meantime the pinion 42 has come into mesh with the arcuate section 41b of rack 41 so that the auxiliary table 34 is caused to perform a pivotal movement together with turntable 36, as shown in Fig. 4. Thus the grinding wheel 38 is moved across the hat felt top of spherical segment shape. The path traversed by the longitudinal carriage 35 for the complete treatment of the hat felt in one and the other direction has arranged at each end thereof an end revers- Again the ing switch, not shown, by which the direction of rotation of motor 40 is reversed.

I claim:

1. In a machine for treating the outside surface of a hat felt, said machine having a rotatable conical hat block with a rounded top portion on which said hat felt is mounted, the combination of a longitudinal carriage, means for reciprocating said longitudinal carriage and comprising a reversible motor, a grinding unit mounted J on said longitudinal carriage and comprising a grinding wheel and a motor operatively connected to said grinding wheel for rotating the same, and guide means providing a guideway for and engaged by said longitudinal carriage, said guideway being parallel to the adjacent horizontal contour of said hat block, whereby said grinding wheel is adapted automatically to roughen a hat felt mounted on said hat block when said grinding wheel and said hat block are rotated and said longitudinal carriage is reciprocated along said guideway.

2. In a machine for treating the outside surface of a hat felt, said machine having a rotatable conical hat block provided with a base and with a top portion of spherical segmental configuration and on which said hat felt is mounted, the combination of a longitudinal carriage, means for reciprocating said longitudinal carriage and comprising a reversible motor, a grinding unit mounted on said longitudinal carriage and comprising a grinding wheel and a motor operatively connected to said grinding wheel for rotating the same, and guide means for said longitudinal carriage, said guide means comprising an outer guide rod providing a guideway for and engaged by said longitudinal carriage, said guideway being parallel to the adjacent horizontal contour of said hat block, a straight inner guide rod, a sliding piece carried by said inner guide rod, and means pivotally connecting said longitudinal carriage to said sliding piece, said guide means being adapted to guide said longitudinal carriage from the base of the hat block first along a straight path and then along an arcuate path around the center of curvature of the outer guide rod, whereby said grinding wheel is adapted automatically to roughen a hat felt mounted on said hat block when said grinding wheel and said hat block are rotated and said longitudinal carriage is reciprocated along said guideway.

3. In a machine for treating the outside surface of a hat felt, said machine having a rotatable hat block with a rounded top portion on which said hat felt is mounted, the combination of a longitudinal carriage, means for reciprocating said longitudinal carriage and comprising a reversible motor, a transverse carriage movably mounted on said longitudinal carriage, a grinding unit comprising a grinding wheel and a motor mounted on said transverse carriage, which motor has a shaft carrying on one end thereof said grinding wheel, and guide means providing a guideway for and engaged by said longitudinal carriage, said guideway being parallel to the adjacent horizontal contour of said hat block, whereby said grinding wheel is adapted automatically to roughen a hat felt mounted on said hat block when said grinding wheel and said hat block are rotated and said longitudinal carriage is reciprocated along said guideway.

4. In a machine for treating the outside surface of a hat felt, said machine having a rotatable conical hat block with a rounded top portion on which said hat felt is mounted, the combination of a longitudinal carriage, a reversible motor fixed to said longitudinal carriage for reciprocating the same, a pinion carried by said longitudinal carriage and operatively connected to said motor, a grinding unit mounted on said longitudinal carriage and comprising a grinding wheel and a motor operatively connected to said grinding wheel for rotating the same, and guide means for said longitudinal carriage, said guide means comprising a rack in mesh with said pinion and providing a guideway for and engaged by said longitudinal carriage, said guideway being parallel to the adjacent u horizontal contour of said hat block, whereby said grinding wheel is adapted automatically to roughen a hat felt mounted on said hat block when said grinding wheel and said hat block are rotated and said longitudinal carriage is reciprocated along said guideway.

5. In a machine for treating the outside surface of a hat felt, said machine having a rotatable conical hat block with a rounded top portion on which said hat felt is mounted, the combination of a longitudinal carriage, means for reciprocating said longitudinal carriage and. comprising a reversible motor, a grinding unit mounted on said longitudinal carriage and comprising a grinding wheel and a motor operatively connected to said grinding wheel for rotating the same, and guide means providing a guide way for and engaged by said longitudinal carriage, said guideway being parallel to the adjacent horizontal contour of said hat block, whereby said grinding wheel is adapted automatically to roughen a hat felt mounted on said hat block when said grinding Wheel and said hat block are rotated and said longitudinal carriage is reciprocated along said guideway, said guide means comprising an inner straight rod having one end adjacent to said top portion, a stationary carrying piece receiving the end of said inner rod adjacent to said top portion, a sliding piece carried by said inner guide rod, and means pivotally connecting said longitudinal carriage to said sliding piece, said carrying piece forming a stop extending into the path of said sliding piece to delimit the movement of said longitudinal carriage along said inner rod.

6. In a machine for treating the outside surface of a hat felt, said machine having a rotatable conical hat block with a top portion of spherical segmental configuration and on which said hat felt is mounted, the combination of an auxiliary table pivotally mounted on a vertical axis extending through the center of curvature of said top portion, said auxiliary table having arranged thereon a longitudinal carriage, a reversible motor fixed to said longitudinal carriage for reciprocating the same, a pinion carried by said longitudinal carriage and operatively connected to said motor, a grinding unit mounted on said longitudinal carriage and comprising a grinding wheel and a motor operatively connected to said grinding wheel for rotating the same, and guide means for said longitudinal carriage, said guide means comprising a rack formed on one side of said auxiliary table and in mesh with said pinion and providing a guideway for and engaged by said longitudinal carriage, said guideway being parallel to the adjacent horizontal contour of said hat block, whereby said grinding wheel is adapted automatically to roughen a hat felt mounted on said hat block when said grinding wheel and said hat block are rotated and said longitudinal carriage is reciprocated along said guideway.

7. In a machine for treating the outside surface of a hat felt, said machine having a rotatable conical hat block with a top portion of spherical segmental configuration and on which said hat felt is mounted, the combination of an auxiliary table pivotally mounted on a vertical axis extending through the center of curvature of said top portion, a turntable arranged in said auxiliary table coaxially to said vertical axis, said auxiliary table being formed with a first guide groove and said turntable being formed with a second guide groove alignable with said first groove to form a continuous guide path, a longitudinal carriage in guided engagement with said guide path, a reversible motor fixed to said longitudinal carriage for reciprocating the same, a pinion carried by said longitudinal carriage and operatively connected to said motor, a grinding unit mounted on said longitudinal carriage and comprising a grinding Wheel and a motor operatively connected to said grinding wheel for rotating the same, and guide means for said longitudinal carriage, said guide means comprising a rack formed on one side of said auxiliary table and in mesh with said pinion and providing a guideway for and engaged by said 1ongitudinal carriage, said guideway being parallel to the adjacent horizontal contour of said hat block, whereby said grinding wheel is adapted automatically to roughen a hat felt mounted on said hat block when said grinding wheel and said hat block are rotated and said longitudinal carriage is reciprocated along said guideway.

8. In a machine for treating the surface of a rotatable body of rotation having an end portion rounded in the shape of a spherical segment, the combination of a longitudinal carriage, means for reciprocating said longitudinal carriage and comprising a reversible motor, a grinding unit mounted on said longitudinal carriage and comprising a grinding Wheel and a motor operatively connected to said grinding wheel for rotating the same, guide means providing a guideway for and engaged by said longitudinal carriage, said guideway being parallel to the adjacent horizontal contour of said body, and means pivotally mounting said longitudinal carriage on a vertical axis extending through the center of curvature of said end portion when said grinding wheel contacts said body of rotation at the base of said end portion.

9. A machine as set forth in claim 8, in which the contour of said body has a straight-lined side portion and said means pivotally mounting said longitudinal carriage are carried by a sliding piece in sliding engagement with a straight guideway parallel to said straight-lined portion, a stop being provided which extends into the path of said sliding piece to delimit the movement thereof when said grinding wheel contacts the base of said end portion.

10. A machine as set forth in claim 8, in which said means pivotally mounting said longitudinal carriage comprise a turntable having a guide groove adapted to receive said longitudinal carriage for guided engagement when said grinding wheel contacts the base of said end portion.

1 1. In a machine for treating the surface of a rotatable body of rotation having an end portion rounded in the shape of a spherical segment, the combination of a longitudinal carriage, means for reciprocating said longitudinal carriage and comprising a reversible motor, a grinding unit mounted on said longitudinal carriage and comprising a grinding wheel and a motor operatively connected to said grinding wheel for rotating the same, guide means providing a guideway for and engaged by said longitudinal carriage, said guideway being parallel to the adjacent horizontal contour of said body, means pivotally mounting said longitudinal carriage on a vertical axis extending through the center of curvature of said end portion when said grinding wheel contacts said body of rotation at the base of said end portion, said guideway having a straight portion, and means relatively adjustably mounting said guide means and said body of rotation in respect of the angle between the axis of said body of rotation and the straight portion of said guide way.

12. A machine as set forth in claim 11, in which said means for relatively adjustably mounting said guide means and body of rotation comprise a motor having a shaft removably mounting said body of rotation, and a member formed with an arcuate slot with which said motor is in engagement and the center of curvature of which lies on a vertical axis extending through the center of curvature of said end portion.

13. A machine as set forth in claim 11, in which said guide means are pivotally mounted on a vertical axis extending through the center of curvature of said end portion.

14. In a machine for treating the surface of a rotatable body of rotation the contour of which has a straight-line side portion and which has an end portion rounded in the shape of a spherical segment, the combination of a longitudinal carriage, means for reciprocating said longitudinal carriage and comprising a reversible motor, a grinding unit mounted on said longitudinal carriage and comprising a grinding wheel and a motor operatively connected to said grinding wheel for rotating the same, guide means providing a guideway for and engaged by said longitudinal carriage, said guideway being parallel to the adjacent horizontal contour of said body, and a second, straight guideway parallel to said straight-lined portion of said horizontal contour for guiding engagement with said longitudinal carriage when the grinding wheel is in contact with the straight-lined portion of said contour, and means pivotally mounting said longitudinal carriage on a vertical axis extending through the center of curvature of said end portion when said grinding wheel contacts said body of rotation at the base of said end portion.

15. A machine as set forth in claim 14, in which said second guideway is formed on a guide rod slidably mounting a sliding piece which carries the means pivotally mounting said longitudinal carriage on a vertical axis.

16. A machine as set forth in claim 14, in which said second guideway is formed on an auxiliary table pivotally mounted on a vertical axis extending through the center of curvature of said end portion.

17. A process for treating the surface of a body of rotation the contour of which has a straight side portion and an arcuate end portion, which comprises contacting the outside surface of said body of rotation with a grinding wheel and rotating said body of rotation and said grinding wheel, and at the same time moving said grinding wheel along a path parallel to said straight side portion of the adjacent horizontal contour of said body to the base of said end portion, thereafter pivotally moving said grinding wheel about a vertical axis extending through the center of curvature of said end portion, and returning said grinding wheel along the same path.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,883,639 Eichenbaum Oct. 18, 1932 2,278,865 Cipriano Apr. 7, 1942 2,379,643 Loy July 3, 1945 2,545,208 Meaker Mar. 13, 1951 

